My Boombastic Definitions

At the behest of my readers, in today's update I will be tackling definitions of some of the most common Japanese words I use in this blog. I often intermix Japanese words into my blog and daily English without knowing. Mostly to whom I speak with in English are either native Japanese-speakers or foreign English teachers with an advance grasp of Japanese. Thus, if some Japanese is used, it goes unnoticed because it is always mutually understood.

Two examples of this are prices and Gaijin, both of which I have noticed for a long time. When I am talking with Kevin in English, for whatever reason, when it comes to prices, we say them in Japan. "Ni-hakyu-en, San-byukyu-en." This is probably because we always see the prices in Yen and it just follows that we would remember it in Japanese. "Gaijin" is also interesting. It means loosely "foreigner". The literal translation means "an outsider" and has a slight pejorative meaning associated with it. The polite form is "Gaikokujin", which means "a person from outside the country." You can see how those two words have slightly different meanings. Mostly Japanese society has been moving toward calling all foreigners the more polite "Gaikokujin", however, when I am in conversation with other English teachers, we refer to ourselves with the less polite "Gaijin." As in; "Were you the only Gaijin there?" or "Did lots of Gaijin show up?" Part of this is due to the fact that in Japanese you are not suppose to refer to yourself with the honorific. For example, saying "Hello, I am Smith-san" is a big No-No. Only other people can bestow the honorific. That being said, I don't know why we say "Gaijin" instead of "foreigner". Somehow, for unknown linguistic reasons, "Gaijin" is a better word to describe our place in Japanese society as opposed to "foreigner" and not necessarily because we are outsiders. I find it an interesting phenomenon.

In regards to how I talk about my schools; I have a hard time thinking about them as Shikaoi Elementary School, Shikaoi Kindergarten or Urimaku Junior High School. Every reference to them for months on end is strictly in Japanese: Shikaoi Sho Gakko, Shikaoi Yochen, Urimaku Chu Gakko. Sometimes Shikaoi Sho is shorten to Shikasho. It has become completely natural to think of these places as wholely defined by their Japanese words. It has become so natural that a place called Shikaoi Elementary School barely exists.

Tori-Sei: This is known in Stony Plain as the chicken restaurant. It is run by our good family friends the Suzuki's and, predictably, specializes in chicken. I try to go there as often as I can. It's really great food and one of the only restaurants in Shikaoi with a remotely North American taste. The yaki-tori chicken (teriyaki) is awesome; grilled over charcoal. All North American yaki-tori chicken pales in comparison. Also - in my book anyway - they should be known for their fresh onigiri; or rice balls. With the fillings dedicatedly cooked over the charcoal BBQ.

Kyoiku-iinkai: This is the Board of Education where I work. It took me a long time for that word to roll off the tongue. Not a lot of people know that unlike many English teachers, I am directly contracted with the Town of Shikaoi and thus my office is in the Board of Education. So everyday after class, I return to the Board of Education. This is traditionally the time of year that everyone rotates, and without going into too much detail, the past couple of weeks, and on through this week, have been very busy.

Hanami: During this time of year is Sakura, or Cherry blossom, Season. It is snowing again today so I think Hokkaido's "Hanami", or flower watching, will be pushed back to next year. Hanami is in full swing in Southern Japan; I know this because the news covers the festivities every night. In Alberta it is hard to imagine what the extreme draw could be. But actually walking through a park with blooming cherry trees as far as the eye can see is a very moving experience and one quickly comes to understand why Hanami has such a long and great history in Japan.